Guy steps in on plans 'every other day'

Jason Dowling -Dec 12, 2012

Matthew Guy.

MINISTERIAL powers to intervene in planning matters were used on average almost every second day in Victoria in 2011 - including three ''call-ins'' from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The list of ministerial interventions for 2011 (plus the month of December 2010 when the Coalition came to office) was released in the last week of Parliament for 2012 and showed 176 interventions.

There were 172 ministerial amendments to planning schemes, three matters called in from VCAT, and one heritage matter called in.

Another 25 requests for intervention were refused.

The Baillieu government promised to include a list of all external lobbyists who have held meetings with the planning minister, the minister's staff or the Department of Planning regarding projects that had been called in.

''Of the three matters called in from VCAT and the one heritage matter call-in, none involved meetings with external lobbyists,'' Planning Minister Matthew Guy said.

One of Mr Guy's first interventions was to impose height controls of 60 metres on land to the south-west of the Shrine of Remembrance.

The move was not only a win for the Shrine; some of Melbourne's most influential businessmen and active Liberal Party supporters also benefited.

The invervention came just 10 days before VCAT was to hear an application for an 88-metre apartment tower at 35 Albert Road, which would have blocked views to the bay from the apartment tower The Domain.

The 81-metre building has been dubbed the ''tower of power'' because of its high-profile residents.